Heaven's All Around
by Jokester6
Summary: The year is 1958 in the underwater city of Rapture. The city is beautiful and has impressive technology yet is also filled with gangsters, vigor addicts and prostitution. While Alfred Jones is trying to protect his father's once beloved city detective Ludwig struggles to find a missing girl. As the two men try to protect what they love their lives intertwine with many other souls.
1. Chapter 1

Note: Hello, this is my first Hetalia story. I do not own Hetalia or Bioshock Infiniate (which I was inspired to write this story). I hope you enjoy it!

Intro

Ludwig Beilschmidt's blue eyes couldn't help but stare up at the ceiling fan. With a small glass of whiskey in one hand he had been counting the number of rotations the ceiling fan completed. He didn't necessary know why he was doing it and was clueless as to how long he had been looking aimlessly at it. All he knew was that the fan had rotated about 123 times before he finally decided to sit back up properly in his cheap leather seat to scan over his organized desk.

Date: July 1st, 1958

Time: 4:00 P.M.

He grunted in indifference when he looked at his calendar and clock. A year had already passed since he had moved to the underwater city of Rapture. Business was same-two to one customer per month. He was glad that not many people needed the insistence of a detective. It meant that less people were in trouble in this newly found city-even if it meant he had days where he could only afford cheap whiskey. As he scanned over the old documents he had worked on in the past, his eyes stopped over a rusty picture frame of him and his brother. The detective chuckled to himself as he placed his whisky down on the desk before picking the picture up to his face. It was a black and white photo of him at the age of 6 and his older brother at the age of 11. The younger of the two brothers had a straight bowl cut while the taller boy had messy short hair. His older brother, Gilbert, had been born with a rare genetic mutation that caused him to be an albino. Gilbert had a big grin on his face and was resting his head on top of Ludwig's head while hugging him. Ludwig's younger self looked straight back at the detective with pure disgust. The photo gave Ludwig joy, yet he could also remember the times when his older brother was made fun of due to his unique physical appearance. Frowning at the unpleasant memories he had back in Germany, Ludwig gently placed the picture back on his desk before looking out the wide window in his office. Thousands of high-rise buildings could be seen under the sea with their bright neon lights promoting restaurants and manufactured products. Several fish and other aquatic sea creatures lazily swam back and forth. It was a peaceful and breathtaking image of the city of Rapture. Just before Ludwig was about to take another swing of his whisky, he heard someone knocking on his office door. Ludwig reluctantly replaced his whisky back on his desk before shouting,

"Come in!"

A few short seconds later a young couple entered the dark office. The first thing that caught Ludwig's eyes was the woman. She was absolutely stunning with long brown hair and bright green eyes. She had pulled her silky hair back with black pins and was wearing a grey trench coat. Her arms were linked to her lover, who was a tall and serious looking young man. Black glasses rested gently on his sharp nose. They both looked fairly handsome and strangely familiar. Ludwig then noticed a blonde teenage boy following closely behind them. He had red blood shot eyes and looked very stressed.

"Mr. Beilschmidt, I am Roderich Edelstein and this is my fiancé Elizabeta Hedervary. The young man over here is our son Basch."

Roderich Edelstein-Ludwig knew exactly who he was along with his young wife.

"The popular jazz pianist Roderich Edelstein?"

The standing man nodded,

"Yes, that is correct."

Roderich was infamous in Rapture due to his talent in Jazz. His beautiful wife was equally respected amongst the music industry due to her amazing singing voice. In fact, Ludwig even listed to some of their music!

"Well, where are my manners? Please, have a seat."

The three customers sat on the cheap black stools across from the German detective. Ludwig leaned forward,

"So, what can I do for you three?"

Immediately, everyone in the room turned stiff. Ludwig noted that Basch looked ready to burst into tears while Roderich bit his lower lip anxiously. Elizabeta quietly answered his question as she placed a small picture on the desk,

"Our daughter, Lily has been missing for two weeks."

The German detective looked down to see an image of a fairly young girl about the age of 11. She had short hair with cute little ribbons on the sides. She had a bright smile and was looking excitedly back at him.

"What have you been doing the past two weeks?"

Roderich answered,

"We have been looking for her. We posted missing posters, asked friends, everything! We thought that she would turn up within a week-since she stays over at her friends' house a few times. We tried asking other detectives for help since there are no police in this city-yet they all seem lost!"

Ludwig frowned. It was not the first time he heard of young girls going missing. Nobody knows where exactly the girls go to-yet many believe that they end up in human trafficking. Even Rapture, a city of dreams, was filled with sick people. Not only was there a high number of unemployment on the lower crust of society, yet vigor addicts were everywhere. Ludwig absolutely hated vigor addicts. These vigors-which are unique liquids that change the DNA structure in the user's body-allows the user extraordinary powers. Ludwig had seen users shoot fire or ice from their fingertips while others teleport before his very own eyes. Yet once a user uses vigors too often, they eventually turn insane and attack people. In fact, there were large rings of vigor addicts that roamed the abandoned areas of Rapture.

"Well, did you notice any signs of distress from Lily before she disappeared?"

Elizabeta slowly shook her head,

"No, she was perfectly fine. She left the apartment around one in the afternoon. She said she was going out to visit the Iceberg Bar."

Ludwig raised an eyebrow. The woman quickly added,

"There's a young boy about her age who works in the bar. His name is Peter. They are close friends."

"Don't you think allowing a young girl to wonder off on her own was dangerous?"

Elizabeta answered,

"We didn't. It's not the first time she went to visit her friend. In fact, quite a lot of children wonder the streets of Rapture. It's a safe place."

Ludwig couldn't believe what he was hearing. Maybe it was the fact that he was constantly dealing with shady figures. In fact, he had meet several dangerous people in the city of Rapture. Yet again he was talking to a couple that were fairly well off and lived in the better regions of the city. They probably would not have expected something horrible such as their daughter being kidnapped would happen to them.

"What was she wearing when she disappeared?"

Elizabeta immediately answered,

"A pink and white dress, a white cardigan, black shoes, a pair of dark green ribbons and a golden locket. The locket is heart shaped and has the letter 'L' carved on the front."

"Do you two perhaps have enemies who would go far as to kidnap Lily?"

Elizabeta glanced at Roderick and asked,

"Maybe Antonio?"

Roderick raised an eyebrow and shook his head,

"Of course not! That stupid Spaniard would never go that far."

Ludwig cleared his throat to get their attention. The frustrated pianist answered,

"I have a rival named Antonio Carriedo. He's a solo guitarist and we have been rivals ever since my family and I moved to Rapture. He plays at the Iceberg Bar on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Yet he is not the type who would do anything as extreme and horrible as kidnapping a child."

"You never know Mr. Edelstein. I have investigated some instances in the music industry and know that some people would do anything to become recognized. Surely even you understand this."

Roderich sighed, knowing that Ludwig was right. He himself did crazy things when he was just starting his career as a musician. As Ludwig jotted down short notes on a small piece of paper Basch asked,

"Is there anything we could do?"

Ludwig looked up to see a tired yet determined looking blonde boy staring intensely back at him.

"I'm afraid not much. It already seems that the three of you have been working quite a bit on trying to find Lily. All I can say is that you should wait patiently in your home. Of course, you should give me any information that you believe could help in my mission in finding you sister."

Basch's hands tightened into fists as he whispered,

"Answer me honestly-do you think my sister is dead?"

Elizabeta and Roderich both look at Basch with shocked eyes. Basch didn't seem to hesitate when asking the question. Ludwig honestly believed that the girl was either shipped back up to the surface or was dead. He had seen similar cases like this before and it hardly turned out well. His eyes drifted back to the picture of his younger self and Gilbert. He felt a sharp pain in his heart. Just imagining your sibling being ripped away from you was a horrible thought. In the end Ludwig forced a smile and simply stated,

"It's still a bit too early to know for sure."

The room fell quiet for a few minutes. Elizabeta was trying her best to hold back tears yet small tears began to slide down her rosy cheeks. Roderich remained silent-seemingly still shocked at the whole situation. Basch continued to stare intently at Ludwig-as if expecting him to say more things relating to his missing sister. Ludwig pushed back his blonde bangs before asking,

"Well, is there any other information that you would like to tell me?"

The couple shook their heads and stood up from their seats. Roderich stated,

"I believe that is all we have."

Once the family reached the door Elizabeta looked desperately into Ludwig's eyes,

"Please find our daughter, Detective Beilschmidt."

Ludwig simply nodded back,

"I will. Please, just ask or tell me anything if you remember something else."

Elizabeta nodded back as she placed a small slip of paper into his big hands,

"This is my phone number. Please call me if you find anything about Lily."

With that the beautiful woman turned and walked back into the crowded streets of Rapture with her family. Just before Ludwig lost sight of them, Basch looked back at him one last time. The tall detective simply waved at the boy. Something about Basch made Ludwig's heart sting. He wasn't sure-but maybe he saw something about himself in him.


	2. Chapter 2

Note: Hello! The adventure finally begins! Just to let you know there will be ALOT of characters in this story so it might move a bit slowly. I would not mind a couple of suggestions to help me know what to improve on. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 1: 18 going on 19

Date: July 2nd, 1958

Alfred Jones leaned against the railings and gazed into the underwater world of Rapture. Despite living in the city for five years he could still find things that he did not notice before. He knew he should expect to see new things-such as a brand new building or even a new advertisement board-since the city's founder, Frank Fontain, wanted the city to expand due to the increasing population. The young man expected Fontain to stop sending invitations to the outside world for potential new inhabitants since Rapture was already filled with bright scientists and inventors. Yet he knew that he shouldn't question Fontain-he knew what was best for his city-their city.

While Rapture was being built during 1951, Alfred's father supported Fontain by providing the money to get the necessary items to build the city. The Jones family were multimillionaires, owning thousands of diamond mines throughout the world. Since his father and Fontain had been so close, Alfred himself grew to adore the city-even though it had strict rules on any sort of connections with the outside world. Fontain had told him that it was to 'keep the vermin of above away from the city'. He also stated that it was for their own safety by preventing terrorists to come into the city. He knew he should respect Fontain's rules-yet he could not deny that he missed the outside world.

"Hey, Al, what are you doing out here?"

Alfred didn't need to turn around to see who was talking. The voice was very quiet yet had a sense of dignity to it. The younger man leaned against the railing beside Alfred, letting his curly blonde hair cover the tips of his eyebrows. Alfred smiled,

"Just thinking, Matt. Just thinking."

Matthew chuckled,

"Since when did you think?"

Alfred rolled his eyes and smirked,

"Oh, haha-I get it. I'm stupid and you're oh so smart since you graduated from Brown before moving down here."

"You know I'm just messing with you. You usually don't act this quiet around the time of your birthday."

Alfred waved it off,

"I already planned out the entire thing for the past month. I'm just tired now. Not to mention I've been thinking of dad lately."

Matthew frowned and remained quiet. Unlike Alfred Matthew did not have good memories of their father. Their father always preferred Alfred over him since he was the first born. Then again-maybe he favored Alfred since he had him with his wife instead of a mistress. Despite being half brothers, Alfred viewed Matthew as if they were completely related. Matthew appreciated this, yet he had to admit there were times when he was jealous of Alfred due to the constant attention he received during their childhood. The younger man placed his hand on the older boy's shoulder,

"Hey, we all miss him. But that doesn't mean we have to be so sad. He wouldn't want you to be sad around your birthday."

Alfred pulled a sad smile as he reached into his pocket to pull out a cigarette,

"Yeah-I guess you're right."

Once Alfred placed the cigarette in his mouth Matthew looked at him in disgust,

"You're smoking? God, Alfred, that's disgusting!"

Alfred's blue eyes looked up curiously at Matthew,

"What? It's not like I'm killing myself. Matt, everyone smokes!"

"It looks bad and it makes you smell weird."

"Aw-come on Matt! I'm the birthday boy-let me have some fun!"

As Alfred pulled out a lighter from his brown jacket Matthew quickly snatched the lighter away. Alfred shouted,

"Hey! That's mine!"

Matthew smiled and teasing said,

"I'm doing it for your own good, Alfy."

Alfred was about to reach out to grab the lighter back but stopped and stated,

"Fine, you can keep it. I got a cooler way to light my cigarette anyway."

Instantly a small flame sparked at the tips of Alfred's right hand. Matthew, shocked, only watched as his older brother finally lighted his cigarette. After Alfred puffed out a smoke he grinned,

"So? Pretty cool, huh?"

Matthew only frowned,

"You're just unbelievable. Since when did you start using vigors?"

Alfred shrugged as the fire disappeared from his fingers,

"Not that long to be honest. About three days-but hell-this is just too cool to give up! After watching so many people having these cool powers I knew I had to try it out sooner or later!"

"Gee-I don't know. Just be careful not to use too much. You might end up with the shrinks."

Alfred waved his hand at his brother,

"Ah-please! You worry too much that you sound like a mother hen!"

The brothers smiled and looked at each other. Despite being opposites, they loved and cared for one another. Matthew patted his brother's back,

"Just looking out for you, old timer."

"Hey! I'm still 18! And 19 isn't that old!"

Matthew just gave him a teasing grin while Alfred playfully punched his shoulder. Matthew never really had the opportunity to admit it, but he wished his relationship with his brother would remain strong for the rest of his life. They stood beside each other through happy and harsh times-yet Matthew still wondered if Alfred would remain by his side. Alfred recently inherited the majority of the family business and Matthew worried that he would either break down from the stress or end up ruining the business. Alfred wasn't stupid, yet Matthew believed his brother would be better off doing something else. Once realizing that Alfred was spacing off again, the younger of the two brothers finally asked,

"Are you planning on doing anything today?"

Alfred stopped and thought for a moment. He honestly had no plans. He had spent the past month to plan out his perfect birthday party, yet once he finished that he was left with nothing to do. His younger brother seemed to have noticed and suggested,

"We haven't been going out together for some time-you being all busy running the family business and planning your birthday party and all. Do you perhaps want to go to the Iceberg Bar with me?"

Alfred solemn expression changed into a wide smile,

"Only if you're paying!"

Matthew raised a blonde eyebrow,

"Do you honestly think I'm going to fall for that again? You drink your alcohol like there's no tomorrow! I'll be broke within a few minutes!"

Alfred pouted and gazed at Matthew with blue puppy dog eyes,

"Please, Matty? For your brother?"

"I'll pay for just one drink. Nothing more!"

"But-!"

"No buts!"

With that Matthew pulled himself away from the railing and started to walk towards the direction of the bar,

"Are you coming or not? The bar's going to get crowded soon you know."

Without warning Alfred flashed him a mischievous grin and bolted right past him towards the bar,

"I'll race you there! Whoever gets there last has to pay for all the drinks!"

"I'm only going to pay for one drink-!"

"I never agreed to it!"

Matthew gasped and ran after him,

"Hey, that's not fair! I'm only going to buy you one drink! Alfred, you hear me? One drink! Oh come on!"


	3. Chapter 3

Note: Hello! Here is another chapter!

Chapter 2: King of Pipes

Date: July 2nd, 1958

Behind the lively and beautiful façade of Rapture hides several abandoned buildings where vigor addicts and gangsters roam. In a fairly luxurious room, classical music could be heard playing through a gramophone. Ivan Braginski, age 29, rested on a rusty purple couch and gazed out of his window to watch aquatic creatures going on their daily routine. The man was big-standing over 6 feet tall and had a curved beaked nose with menacing violet eyes. He wore a white suit with grey silk gloves and a soft grey scarf wrapped around his thick neck. He held a rusty old pipe in his right hand while on his left he held a delicate class of Champaign. Not too far from him his younger sister Natasha was checking the ammo in her machine gun. One can never be too careful in these shady regions of Rapture. Despite Ivan being a well respected and feared gangster who smuggled in cheap vigors and items from the outside world, he still needed to watch out for vigor addicts who completely lost their minds and Big Daddies-monsters that would kill any living being in these parts of the city.

"брат?"

Ivan turned to his sister,

"Da?"

"I don't have that much ammunition left."

Ivan smiled-in his own creepy way-towards Natasha,

"Do not worry, my little sister. Some of our customers will be coming in to trade their ammo with some of our vigors or food."

The young serious woman simply nodded back at the older man. Ivan adored Natasha-and vise versa. She was the only person in this world-besides their former older sister-who did not fear him. Ivan also didn't mind having complete power over the younger girl. If he wanted to he would tell her to kill herself and she would gladly do it. Thinking about this, Ivan finished his Champaign and placed the glass on the floor. Soon enough someone knocked on the door and Ivan simply said,

"Come in."

As the Russian turned to see the visitor, a young blonde man was thrown before his feet. Behind him, his goons Eduard and Raivis entered and closed the door behind them. Ivan's face pulled a grin,

"Well, well-who could this be?"

The younger of the goons, Raivis, simply answered,

"He's that same British guy."

Ivan slowly nodded,

"Ah-now that you mention it, I do recognize him."

Ivan gestured his hand and Eduard held up the blonde man to face Ivan. The man was severely beaten yet his green eyes were bright with excitement. A strange and twisted smile was plastered on his face.

"Hello, Arthur. Do you remember who I am?"

Ivan knew the answer, but he just loved to ask the question. As expected the crazed man simply chuckled and answered,

"No! All I know is that you have my vigor!"

Typical vigor addict. They always seem to forget Ivan's name-and in some cases-even their own names. Ivan had meet some addicts who seemed to forget events that had happened a few minutes ago. Arthur did not seem to be in that sort of severe condition, yet his memories did seem to fade. Ivan simply told him,

"Silly boy, my name is Ivan. And this,"

He pointed his pipe to Natasha,

"Is my beautiful sister Natasha. You two used to be together, remember?"

Natasha avoided Arthur's blank and confused gaze. Ivan chuckled at how adorable and clueless the man looked,

"I guess that does not matter. I did not approve of it anyway. So, what do you have for our trade?"

The scrawny man hurriedly pulled out three small cans of food and one medium sized box of ammunition. He pushed his offerings closer to Ivan and looked up at him with a proud smile. It was as if a little boy was showing off a perfect test score to a father. Ivan snapped his fingers and Raivis immediately began to go through the items,

"Three cans of tuna and 35 bullets."

Ivan scratched his chin,

"Well-I guess it is not too bad."

He leaned in closer to Arthur's face,

"Even though you usually bring more. What happened, little British man? Didn't run into enough innocent people to kill?"

Arthur simply chuckled at the question. The Russian waved at Raivis,

"Give him a small glass of vigor and get him out of my sight. Make sure he uses the damn thing outside of the hideout. The last thing we want is him turning invisible and going off on a killing spree on our people like last time."

As Raivis and Eduard grabbed and lead Arthur out the door Ivan muttered under his breath,

"How pathetic."

As he slowly rubbed his forehead he couldn't help but ask his sister,

"Natasha, what the hell did you see in him?"

The woman shrugged,

"He was just there."

"The moment he joined our group he ruined everything. I still don't know who introduced him with the vigors but the moment he started using it he changed too much. He killed six of our men-even Katyusha."

His grip tightened around his pipe as he remembered their dead sister,

"I wanted to bash his head in."

Natasha nonchalantly asked as she rested her head on his lap,

"Why didn't you, older brother?"

Ivan chuckled as he gently brushed Natasha's hair out of her face,

"You see, little sister, he still has a little brother. Not only is it enjoyable to see a family being ripped apart-it is also fun to see how crazy the man is changing! I've always found the changing process to be fascinating, don't you too?"

Natasha stayed silent as she gazed off into the deep ocean floor with her brother.


	4. Chapter 4

Note: Another day, another chapter! What do you guys think so far?

Chapter 3: It's A Sick World Out There

Date: July 3nd, 1958

Before pushing the door open detective Ludwig Beilschmidt glanced at his wrist one last time. It was a quarter past midnight. A breath of relief escaped his lips-the bar would still be open for a few more hours. That would be more than enough time to get some answers about the missing girl. Not waiting another second the German finally pushed open the door leading into the Iceberg Bar. Immediately smooth jazz and drunk chattering filled his ears. The brown floorboards of the bar glistened as professional waiters rushed to receive orders from the drunken customers. The first time Ludwig entered this bar his whole perception of what a bar was supposed to be like changed. Up in the surface the bars would not have fancy waiters, the alcohol tasted cheap and the place always smelled of vomit and god knows what else. But in Bioshock…everything looked like something out of a fairytale. Everyone-well, everyone in these parts of the city-lived like royalty.

The moment Ludwig took a step forward a waiter appeared before his very eyes. The detective slightly jumped in surprise and the waiter chuckled,

"My apologies, sir. May I lead you to your seat?"

Ludwig waved it off,

"Ah-no thank you. Are you using some sort of new vigor? I do not recall seeing any sort of vigor that does that to people."

The young waiter smiled shyly as he scratched the back of his head,

"You must be pretty shaken up. You see, I'm not all that used to using vigors. And yes, this is a brand new one! Helps you teleport within a given distance. Cool huh?"

"Um-sure,"

Ludwig replied hastily before changing the subject,

"Do you know of a Peter?"

The goofy smile on the waiter's face simply widened once he heard the name,

"Aw, you mean the little kiddo? Sure, I know of him!"

Ludwig felt a small smile appear on his lips. Good. Everything seemed to be going his way. Hopefully the boy could give him some useful information about Lily.

"Good. Is he here? I have a few questions for him."

The young waiter frowned and furrowed his brow in confusion,

"Um…did something bad happen?"

The detective reached and pulled out the picture of Lily and showed it to the waiter,

"It has something to do with a missing girl. Her name is Lily. You've seen her?"

"Sure I have. When did she disappear?"

"About two weeks ago."

"I'm afraid I won't be of much help. I was taking a break for that whole week-I had a pretty bad fever. Uh…you could go ask Mathias in the back, he's pretty close to Peter."

After quickly thanking the waiter Ludwig made his way towards the back of the bar. The place was still fairly crowded and the tall man had to swiftly dodge several waiters who were serving drinks and foods. Eventually Ludwig reached a long counter where a handsome blonde man was making beverages. The waiter had spikey hair with wild blue eyes. Once noticing the detective before him Mathias gave him a big grin,

"What would you like, sir?"

Ludwig immediately detected a thick Danish accent. It was so thick he looked at the man confusingly,

"Excuse me?"

The man's grin only widened and asked again,

"What drink would you like?"

Finally understanding what the man was asking, Ludwig blushed in embarrassment and shook head,

"Oh, I am not here to drink."

The Danish man gave Ludwig a weird look and laughed,

"What are you doing in a bar if you are not going to drink? Are you trying to pick up some girls?"

"No. In fact, I am here to see Peter."

Mathias stopped mixing the different alcohols and shouted to the kitchen,

"Lukas, take my place for a quick sec, will you?"

Just like the waiter from the entrance a short young boy appeared next to Mathias. Ludwig once again jumped in surprise but the younger boy simply ignored his reaction and grabbed the glass from Mathias and murmured,

"Hurry up."

Mathias gave him a smile and turned to the detective,

"Follow me, I'll tell you at the back."

As the waiter led the detective to the back door Ludwig immediately felt suspicious. What was the man going to say that needed this much privacy? Slowly, Ludwig's fingers slipped into his trench coat pocket and felt his cold handgun. He could never be too careful. Passing the busy kitchen the two finally exited the back door and entered an empty ally way. The atmosphere was still and Ludwig could notice that something about Mathias changed. With shocking speed Mathias immediately turned around and slammed Ludwig into the brick wall and held him there with an iron grip. The detective cursed in pain as the once cheerful waiter snarled aggressively at him,

"Okay you sick fuck, who sent you?"

Ludwig glared straight back at Mathias and simply warned him,

"Let me go. Or else I will be forced to do something that I will regret."

Mathias's grip tightened and the detective shouted in pain. The waiter snapped,

"I will not. You fuckers have been after Peter for too long. You guys have abused him over and over again! You sick bastards! Who does that to a kid? Leave him alone already! Just because there's no police in this city you people think you own the place! But guess what? You don't! And you have no right to force a child to do those horrible things!"

The detective forcefully pushed the taller man off from him. Mathias stood his ground and stared menacingly back at the detective.

"Look, I have no idea what you are talking about. But I have no intentions to hurt Peter. In fact, I am here to ask him simple questions regarding a missing girl."

Mathias continued to glare at Ludwig suspiciously while Ludwig pulled out a few papers and the picture of Lily,

"See? This is the picture of the missing girl, Lily. She is Peter's friend, correct? These are all the paper works that her parents have done for me to investigate this case. She has been gone for two weeks and the more time we waste the chances of finding her decreases."

After a few moments of silence Mathias rested his back against the wall and breathed out in exhaustion. Ludwig watched in silence as the other man ran his fingers through his spikey hair,

"I can't believe this is happening. First Peter…and now sweet Lily? What a sick world we live in…you got a smoke?"

The German threw a small cigarette at the exhausted man and watched him light it. After a few seconds of breathing in and out the toxic smoke Mathias finally spoke,

"You know this city is not all smiles and daisies, correct?"

Ludwig leaned against the brick wall besides the man and nodded,

"I've seen my fair share."

Mathias shook his head and waved his hands,

"But this is a whole new level of fucked up."

"Where is Peter?"

The frustrated blonde answered,

"He is safe, thank god. He is at his home at the moment. If you haven't noticed detective, most eleven year old boys tend to sleep in during this time."

Ludwig watched Mathias throw the cigarette on the floor and crush it with his heel before asking,

"What exactly happened to Peter?

"He used to live off on the streets in this city. He had an older brother but he left soon after he started using vigors. The boy was a wreck-he was here with Peter in hopes to have a better chance in life. But someone has to sweep the streets-you know what I mean?"

"What was his brother's name?"

"It should be Arthur Kirkland. Peter always called him 'Arty' so I'm not too sure. But I think that should be his name. I don't think you would have much luck in finding him-he's living off in the abandoned parts of the city. Heck, he might even be dead by now! Anyway, once his brother left Peter was left with very little options. One day a couple of sickos came over and…kidnapped him."

He looked up at Ludwig with sadness in his eyes,

"I think you know what they forced him to do…there are a lot of sick people in this world."

Mathias fell silent once again as he waved his hand,

"Could I have another smoke?"

Ludwig obediently placed another cigarette into the man's clammy hands. After puffing out a couple of smokes Mathias continued,

"Eventually, Peter grew sick and was thrown back out to the streets. Berwald and Tino bumped into him and brought the poor boy back here. My god, I had never seen any child so tiny and beaten up like that…"

Ludwig gently rested his hand on Mathias's shoulder,

"Mathias, Peter is likely the last person to see Lily before she disappeared. I need to ask him some questions."

"…Yeah, I understand. I'll give you the address. Just…don't be too harsh on him. He's just a little kid and he's been through enough."

The waiter pulled out a pen and piece of scrap paper from his apron pocket and scribbled the address down before handing it to the detective. The detective took the address as he stood up and nodded his head,

"I will. Thank you for the address."

"Oh, and detective?"

Ludwig raised an eyebrow as he looked back at Mathias. The waiter warned,

"Be careful out there. If the same people who used Peter caught Lily you will have to deal with some very dangerous people. Even though Peter's been thrown out a couple of shady people always seem to crawl back and try to get him-hence why I immediately felt suspicious when you asked for him. You are not dealing with regular people. You are dealing with monsters."

The last sentence tugged onto Ludwig's heartstring. Even though he knew all of this he couldn't help but feel terrible when he actually encountered the dark side of humanity. Turning around he said,

"I'll keep that in mind. Take care."


	5. Chapter 5

Note: Thank you for the support guys (I really appreciate it)! I want to apologize that I was unable to update within the past two months. I made it up to you guys by writing up an extra long chapter though. Hope you guys enjoy!

Chapter 4: Family Stick Together

Date: July 3nd, 1958

"Feli, how many times do I have to tell you to stop doing that?"

An angry Italian scolded his younger brother. The younger man whimpered as he crawled into the corner of his side of the table. The two Vargas brothers were trying to enjoy their daily dose of Italian wine. However, Feliciano Vargas had been causing some commotion in the underwater city.

"I'm sorry! Lovino, I'm sorry! It's just that I got a bit carried off with all the cute girls here!"

Lovino furrowed his brow,

"I could have lost you in this big city! We're trying to find grandpa Rome, I don't want to search for two Vargasses! Keep your priorities straight!"

Lovino grumbled as he grabbed his glass of wine. Feliciano smiled nervously as his older brother started to calm down while drinking his beverage. The Italian twins had been in Rapture for about two weeks in search for their genius grandfather. Due to the older man's charm and intelligence, the twins loved to call him grandpa Rome. Feliciano spoke,

"I wonder where the old man is...he just sent us that one letter and that's it!"

"Can you pull out the letter? Let's try to have a look at it again...we might have missed something."

The younger man did as he was told. He gently pulled out the brown letter that he received a month ago. In front of the letter was a red seal with the initial 'V' on it. Lovino spoke impatiently,

"Hurry up and open it!"

In the letter were a few numbers scribbled at the top with a short note at the bottom. Feliciano began to go through the things the brothers knew already,

"We got this letter on June 15th...and these numbers are the coordinates of the lighthouse that serves as the entrance to this city. On the end of the letter grandpa Rome wrote, 'I need urgent help! Please come here and help me get back to Italy! Refuse vigors at all costs!'...and that's all we know."

"The question is why didn't grandpa Rome tell us where he's at in this big city? It's going to take us years to find him! Not to mention that some of the people here love to keep others out from going to certain areas of the city…"

Feliciano tilted his head,

"Isn't it for our own safety? I heard that it's pretty dangerous to wander off into the distant areas of Rapture. Apparently there are several vigor addicts!"

"Vigor addicts or not we have to find him and get the hell out of here-!"

The conversation was interrupted by a blonde waiter,

"Would you like more wine?"

The two brothers nodded at once. Once the waiter poured some wine he disappeared into thin air and reappeared at a table a few yards away. Lovino leaned in closer to make sure nobody heard their conversation,

"This place is giving me the creeps! These vigors...vigor addicts...it's crazy! I'm telling you Feliciano, I have a bad feeling about this place."

"I agree. Apparently there's a mob illegally bringing in items from the surface...he's causing trouble. I heard his name is Fontaine, and Andrew Ryan doesn't like him one bit because of it! I honestly wouldn't be surprised if one of them tried to get rid of the other."

"Who the fuck is Fontaine and Andrew Ryan?"

"Um…Mr. Ryan's the founder of Rapture? Fontain, from what I heard, is this mob boss"

"Shit! If a fight breaks out where the hell are we going to run to? We're literally stuck in an aquarium!"

Feliciano and Lovino both took a moment to come up with a plan to escape in case if a civil war arose during their stay. Feliciano smiled as he suggested,

"We could use the bathsphere! We came to this city with it-we can also get out of the city with it as well!"

"Tell me something I don't know dumbass! If a war were to go down they might shut down the bathspheres."

Feliciano raised an eyebrow,

"Why would they trap their own citizens during such a dangerous time?"

"If you were paying attention you might have noticed that Ryan seems to be the person who doesn't like people to leave his little city. Everyone else outside of Rapture are viewed as parasites. Feli-everyone in Rapture are insane."

"Why don't we make friends with someone who runs the bathsphere then? If we do that then they could help us get out along with others who want to leave!"

Lovino rolled his eyes,

"And what if that 'friend' happens to be a supporter of Ryan? He's going to turn us over and we might turn into fish food!"

"Why didn't we thought of an escape while we were coming here?"

"Because we didn't know what the hell we were getting into, remember? I sure hell didn't expect to play hide and seek with grandpa Rome under the fucking sea!"

Feliciano whimpered and squirmed once again in his seat. His older twin grumbled,

"Look...Feli, you can't just go around trusting whoever the hell you see. You are going to get us both hurt if you do that. We're not in the villa anymore...we're in some freaky city that loves to get addicted on vigors!"

Feliciano's body slowly turned back to his older twin. He frowned as he whispered,

"I know that. It's just...everything has been so messed up lately. I just wanted...I just wanted…"

Lovino's eyebrow furrowed once he caught a small little tear beginning to form in his younger brother's right eye. He frowned and reached out to his younger brother,

"Aw, come on Feli-!"

Before the older twin could comfort the upset man a soothing melody could be heard in the little bar. Lovino's left eye began to twitch as he slowly turned to see the person playing the guitar,

"That bastardo!"

Antonio Carriedo was minding his own business as always. He had come to this underwater city for the hopes of being recognized by his musical talent-yet nobody seemed to appreciate him as much as he wanted. Because of him not being as successful like his rival Roderich, he was stuck in this tiny little bar strumming his heart away. The moment he lifted his guitar, he noticed that the noisy bar grew quiet. He smiled to himself and began strumming the guitar.

" _I should not be seeing you-"_

He hoped that his musical talent would be recognized. However, it seemed as if he wasn't that good with music as he thought he was. The Spanish man closed his eyes and continued to sing gently,

" _Nor should you be seeing me-"_

Why was he doing this job?

" _We know-that it can never be-"_

His father used to play the guitar-or was it his uncle? He wasn't so sure. He couldn't remember that much from his childhood. Yet throughout the harsh times he had in Spain, he could always rely on his guitar to make him happy again.

" _You and I-together-"_

He could hear some young ladies swooning over his voice. Then again, he always had a way with women. In some cases it was so bad that it even got himself into trouble. He frowned-that was another reason why he left the surface.

"Hey you bastardo! I told you I didn't want to see you around here!"

The Spaniard quit strumming and opened his eyes. Speaking of the devil-he saw the same angry Italian from a few days ago. Everyone in the bar seemed quite confused. The smaller Italian of the two tried to calm the taller one down by tugging on his shirt,

"Oh come on Lovino-"

"No! This bastard is not getting away with what he's done!"

Antonio frowned as he whispered apologetically,

"Look, I'm sorry about what I've done. But I swear I didn't know-!"

"That's what they all say! You slept with my Maria! I am going to send you to hell for that!"

The Spaniard gulped. This had been going on forever. He remembered the incident clearly. It was in Venice-he was just there to explore the marvelous city. It was there where he met Maria, a beautiful young lady who claimed she was single. The two flirted with each other for a while and before Antonio knew it he was sharing a bed with her. Shortly after that he remembered seeing the same short Italian catching them together in that bed. He screamed and started to throw lamps, potted plants, and even silverware at him. It was funny how small the world seems to be.

"Hey, hey, no fighting in the bar! Take it outside you two!"

Mathias appeared from behind the bar, closing in on the two young men.

"Sir, don't make things as hard like last time. I don't think my friend wants to freeze your foot to the floor like last time!"

Lovino bit his lower lip in anger and his hands tightened into fists. Antonio could see the anger in his eyes. He couldn't blame him for what he has done. Yet he really didn't know that Maria was his newly wedded wife. He would have never slept with her if he knew! He frowned at got up to leave the bar,

"I'm sorry-I'll leave."

He picked up his guitar and headed slowly out towards the door.

The American walked quietly down Market Street. Once in awhile a stranger would call out to him,

"Hey Alfred!"

"How's it going Mr. Jones?"

"Still working hard as always, Mr. Jones?"

Alfred would always smile back and wave at them. Matthew told Alfred that he would see him in his birthday party the next morning and left him after paying for a drink. Alfred tried to trick his younger brother into staying with him for a longer time but his younger brother seemed to have figured out his scheme and left early. Frowning, the young man entered the Andalusian Arms. The place was a hotel, yet Alfred didn't mind living in it. He enjoyed bumping into different people and he had a big room after all. As he entered the room he noticed that the lady at the counter was giving a short man a hard time.

"I told you that you do not belong in this hotel!"

The short Asian man's grey eyes widen as he tried to speak out,

"Please, there must be a mistake! Mr. Ryan had specifically sent this invitation to me-!"

"I just told you-!"

The young American frowned; despite being in Rapture people still seemed to treat others differently from the color of their skin. For crying out loud it was 1958! In such a modern time people should be accepting others! Alfred decided to help out the man,

"Hi Lucy, what's going on here?"

The lady immediately changed her personality. She smiled as she twirled her hair,

"Why, isn't it Mr. Jones! How-how are you doing sir?"

She bit her lower lip while batting her eyelashes. Alfred smiled back,

"I'm doing fine. But it seems like my fellow here isn't."

Lucy's eyes widen,

"He's…he's with you sir?"

The Asian man also seemed confused and tried to deny that he knew Alfred. The American swung his arm around the shorter man and confirmed,

"Sure is! Come on…er…pal! You should have waited for me before you ran off like that! Lucy, please check him in."

Lucy asked the man,

"What was your name again sir?"

"Honda Kiku."

Lucy scribbled down a couple of things in her little notebook before handing him the keys to his room,

"Well, here are your keys Mr. Kiki."

"It's Ki…"

Lucy didn't listen as she called out for the other people behind them,

"Next!"

As Alfred and Kiku made their way towards the elevator Lucy hissed under her breath,

"Lousy Jap!"

Alfred heard the woman curse yet decided to not mention it to the other man. He already seemed to have a tough day after all. While the two men stood in the elevator Kiku bowed towards Alfred,

"Thank you very much! I…I'm sorry, but what was your name?"

The American chuckled,

"It's Alfred F. Jones. It's no big deal Kiku."

"I'm confused to why you helped me. You seemed to be one of the few people who treated me so kindly once I got here."

"I have a tendency to help those being mistreated. You seem like a good sport. And it ended up being true that Ryan did invite you to come to Rapture. You're an architect aren't you?"

The Japanese man asked in suspicion,

"How did you know?"

Alfred chuckled,

"I work with Ryan. He sometimes tells me these things."

Kiku tilted his head with curiosity,

"Sorry if I seem to ask you so many questions, but what exactly do you do?"

"That's no biggy. I help him with the money to build this city. You see, my family owns several diamond mines in Africa."

The elevator stopped at the twenty-first floor. The two men got off and got ready to walk to their separate rooms. Alfred smiled,

"Well look at that-our rooms are on the same floor. We should go to the bar sometimes together!"

Kiku smiled and slowly nodded,

"Sure, that would be fun."

Without a second thought the American gave Kiku a small sheet of paper with his phone number and location of his birthday party on it,

"Here, just in case if you need something. You can also call me if someone's giving you any crap. Oh-and I got this pretty fancy birthday party tomorrow-you should definitely come!"

Kiku once again bowed towards Alfred,

"Thank you, Mr. Jones."

"No problem Kiku. I'm just being friendly."

When the Japanese man looked up Alfred had already started to walk away towards his room. Alfred Jones smiled the entire way. Whenever he stood up for someone he felt great since he acted like a hero for someone in need.

Alfred was surprised to see Andrew Ryan in his room. The lights were not on and the man was sitting on one of the armchairs. Two strong bodyguards stood beside him. The ocean in the back cast a dark blue glow in the big room.

"Andrew? What are you doing in my room?"

"Sorry to barge in like this. I just had to come over. It's about Fontaine."

Alfred frowned as he took a seat across from the man,

"Fontaine? Again? I thought you just had to ignore him. I mean, sure, he's a thug and all…"

"It's wrong to smuggle in goods."

"But you have no right to stop him. Andrew, if you stop him you are going against your own philosophy of letting people do whatever the hell they want!"

The powerful man chuckled,

"Don't you think I know that?"

Alfred nodded as he nervously reached out for a cigar from a table beside him. His hands twitched while he gingerly lit it up.

"Well, what are you doing here?"

The older man light up a cigar of his own and placed it in his mouth. He sucked onto it for a long time before blowing smoke out from his nose. The entire process felt like it took hours for Alfred as he too sucked onto his cigar.

"Alfred my boy, I think we might just have to send troops against him. He's been trying to take over Rapture…my city. I need some of your money to supply more ammunition for my troops."

"Fine."

"Huh?"

Alfred blew some smoke out of his mouth,

"I said fine. For the good of Rapture I'll do it."

Andrew Ryan smiled,

"Well, this went much easier than I expected. I thought you'd go against me…"

"Was this the only thing you wanted to talk to me about? You should have just sent in a letter! You and my father were great friends. He helped you build this city. My old man's dead and this is all I have of him left. You know I'd do anything to keep it alive."

The older man smiled and nodded,

"Ah yes…I remember. I still remember that time when he brought you to me. We were in Hawaii at the time, weren't we? You were so determined to work with us…and now you are."

Alfred sighed as he remembered the time he tried to climb up a rocky hill beside the beach. He was so young, so carefree. His nannies would chase after him and beg him to get down before he got hurt. He would laugh and tell them he was going to climb it for his father. He wanted to show his father that he was strong just like him. He wanted to be a hero.

Andrew Ryan stood up and walked towards the door. His two bulky bodyguards followed right behind him. Ryan said,

"I'll see you tomorrow."

Before he left he turned to Alfred and rested his arm on the young man's shoulder,

"Take care of yourself birthday boy-we wouldn't want you getting hurt."

Alfred whispered as the older man gently took his hand off from his shoulder.

"Sure thing…"

The three men marched out of the room and left the young man alone. Alfred looked down at the floor,

"…dad."

Ryan meant everything to him. Ever since his father died Ryan had stayed beside him while Matthew was too busy pursuing his own education on the surface. Alfred never liked to bring up about his father's funeral around Matthew because of that. In fact, it seemed to have caused him to dislike Matthew to some extent. But what could he do? He couldn't leave Matthew-he was family after all.


End file.
